Gambling boss on Asian rich list

July 12, 2006

Two of the four new entrants to the list of the UK’s 10 richest Asian businessmen run an online gambling operation based in Gibraltar. Anurag Dikshit, 34, took third place in the table with an estimated wealth of £1.7bn – thanks to British dependency being included in the list.

Other new entrants in the top ten were Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways, and Felix Grovit, founder of foreign exchange firm Chequepoint.The new list – published by the Sunrise Group – was compiled by Dr Phillip Beresford who developed The Sunday Times rich list.

The combined wealth of the 300 Asian multimillionaires on the list has surged from £24.9bn in 2005 to £35.5bn in 2006, an increase of 42.6%.

Low inheritance

Unlike the British rich list, where two-thirds have inherited their wealth, on the Asian list this figure is only 3%.

The accomplishment of the two Partygaming entrepreneurs is typical of many of the names on the list, who moved abroad at an early stage to make the most of their business know-how.

ASIAN RICH LIST TOP 10

Lakshmi Mittal – LNM Group – £14.8bn

GP &SP Hinduja – Sangam Group – £3.6bn

Anurag Dikshit – Partygaming – £1.7bn

Anil Aggarwal – Vedanta Resources – £1.68bn

The Jatania Brothers – Lornamead – £850m

Naresh Goyal & Family – Jet Airways – £780m

Vikrant Bhargava – Partygaming – £592m

Felix Grovit – Chequepoint – £465m

Lord Paul & Family – The Caparo Group – £465m

Gulu Lalvani – Binatone – £450m

Mr Dikshit graduated of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in 1994, then moved to work for a US software developer a year later.

In 1998 entrepreneur Ruth Parasol took on the 25-year-old Mr Dikshit and asked him to create casino games such as roulette. They launched Partygaming in 2001.

When the company floated last year, Mr Dikshit became a billionaire overnight.

He himself recruited his friend and fellow IIT graduate Mr Bhargava to the company to run its Caribbean operations which focus on the US market.

Elsewhere in the league table, the Hinduja brothers – Srichand and Gopichand – held onto the number two slot with a combined wealth of £3.6bn for their global finance, telecommunications, film and oil businesses.

Only 22 of the richest 300 Asians were women, of which one was Meena Pathak, of the Pathak spices group.

The most important sectors were wholesaling and industry, which had 45 individuals each.

Over half (187) of those who have made the list are from London and the Southeast.